The Softest Bakery Style Hot Cross Buns
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour rising time
Baking time: 30 minutes
- 1 cup sultanas or raisins, heated and soaked in 1/2 cup rum, overnight or at least for 20 minutes
- 3.5 - 3 3/4 cups plain all purpose or bread flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon instant dried yeast
- 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
- 2 eggs
- 60g/2ozs butter, cubes, softened
- 1 teaspoon salt
Flour crosses
- 40g/1.41ozs. plain flour
- Around 3 tablespoons water to make paste
For Glaze
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup boiling water
- 1/2 teaspoon gelatine powder
Step 1 - Make the tangzhong or water roux. Please don't let this step put you off. It makes a huge difference for the softest of buns. Take 1/6 cup of the flour from the whole measurement and whisk with 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan until smooth. Heat on medium heat and stir until it thickens to become a roux. You want it to reach 65ºC/149ºF and it will take about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the milk in two lots and the honey and whisk until the honey melts. Cool to 45ºC/113ºF.
Step 2 - Place the rest of the bread flour (use 3.5 cups and then add the extra 1/4 cup if you need it), yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix to combine.
Step 3 - Whisk the eggs into the milky tangzhong mixture and add to the flour mix and knead until elastic. Add a bit more flour if the mixture is too wet. Finally add the butter cubes one at a time. It needs to be elastic and stretchy but not break. You should be able to pull it apart between your fingers and see through it without it breaking. Roll it into a ball making sure that there are no cracks on top of the ball and allow it to rise in a warm place. As I was living on the surface of the sun that day it only took 40 minutes to triple in size.
Step 4 - Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Mix the cross ingredients together to make a pipeable paste and place in a small piping bag cutting a small hole at the end. Punch down the dough and knead in the salt and the drained sultanas (reserve the rum to mix with the butter to create rum butter).
Troubleshooting: your dough will be sticky but try not to add too much flour. A little is fine because flour varies from supplier to batch but adding too much will affect the texture of the buns. Instead, add a little flour and then lightly oil your hands just before shaping them.
Step 5 - Line a baking tray with parchment. Flour your hands and a surface and shape 12-13 easter buns. I like them to have soft sides so I bound it with a Bake Snake (silicon sides). Do not give these a long rise, as long as they puff up a bit that is perfect. Pipe crosses on top and then bake for 30 minutes.
Step 5 - To make the glaze, whisk the sugar, boiling water and gelatine until smooth and brush over the hot buns. If you don't have gelatine, you can glaze these with some warmed up apricot jam. Serve with rum butter (whisk 75g-100g/2.65-3.5ozs. very soft butter with the leftover rum).